1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an accounting method for accounting communication charges of communication terminals for ordinary homes and public telephone sets accommodated in a communication network, and more particularly to an accounting system wherein communication charges are discounted or reduced to zero by transmitting commercial information (advertisement information for commercial advertisement) to communication terminals for ordinary homes and public telephone sets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a communication charge for a telephone is usually imposed on a person originating a communication. However, another system wherein, when communication is performed with a particular party, the terminating party is charged for the communication is also available.
Also, a partition accounting system is available wherein, in a communication network wherein a video signal is distributed from a video distribution center to terminals such as a cable television (CATV), an entire single communication is partitioned into a portion of announcement images (commercial images) and another portion of regular images and the communication charge for the announcement image portion is charged to the video distribution center while the communication charge for the regular image portion is charged to the terminals.
Also, another system is available wherein, when the Internet is accessed using particular software sold by an Internet undertaker, purchased by a user and installed in a personal computer, commercial information is displayed at a portion of a screen of a display unit of the personal computer, and thereupon, the user is required only to pay the communication charge for communication to an Internet access point while the Internet access charge is not imposed on the user.
However, as development of such multi-media communications as television telephone proceeds, a demand of consumers for a lower communication rate and a demand of undertakers for more effective delivery of commercial information to a communication network are increasing.
As prior art which meets the requirements, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 283965/1991 (title of the invention="Public Telephone Set") has been proposed. A system disclosed in the document just mentioned is described.
In the prior art described above, as shown in FIG. 1, special public telephone set 51 is provided in which card reader unit 52 for reading a particular prepaid card and CM sending out unit 53 for sending out a commercial signal to an originating party are built in.
If an off-hook state of public telephone set 51 is detected, then a commercial signal is sent out for a fixed period of time from CM sending out unit 53 to a transmitter-receiver via telephone circuit 54 under the control of CPU 56. Then, after the signal is sent out, a dialed number is accepted and transmitted from main wire circuit 55 to a public network to allow communication, and the communication charge is discounted totally or partially and paid from a particular prepaid card.
As criteria of the communication charge, four criteria of "free", "charged", "free for a fixed time" and "charged with a charging period and a communication charge determined from a dial number" are provided in addition to distinction between a local call and a station-to-station call.
Further, a call is terminated from center equipment 57 to public telephone set 51 via the public network, and a switching request signal for commercial (hereinafter denoted by CM) contents is communicated so that different CM contents (a plurality of commercial signals are stored in CM transmission unit 53) may be sent out.
The system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 283965/1991 mentioned above, however, has several problems described below.
The first problem resides in that it is required to set up special public telephone sets and, in order that many and unspecific persons who live in a wide area can daily use the specific public telephone sets, massive capital investment is required.
The second problem resides in that the system can be used by only those persons who have a particular prepaid card. Even if the system is augmented so that it can be used using a coin, a bill or a credit card, the system cannot still be utilized without them. Accordingly, a person who has none of them cannot utilize the system. Further, since a prepaid card is liable to be counterfeited, considerable expense is required for a countermeasure against counterfeit.
The third problem resides in that, since, when a specific public telephone set is used, the user must listen to a CM message without fail, the system is inconvenient and disadvantageous to a person who wants to talk quickly without listening to the advertisement information even if the communication charge is not discounted. In order to solve this problem simply, two telephone sets including a special public telephone set and an ordinary public telephone set must be provided together.
Further, the fourth problem resides in that, since a call is terminated from a center equipment to a public telephone set and a switching request signal for CM contents is communicated so that different advertisement information contents (a plurality of commercial messages are stored in the CM sending out unit) may be switchably sent out, much time is required before switching of the CM message takes place. Consequently, if the same person tries to telephone successively from the same public telephone set or several times in a day, then the person listens to the CM of the same contents every time. Accordingly, the CM efficiency is low.
In order to solve this problem to some degree, the period in which a switching request signal is sent out from the center equipment should be reduced. However, if the undertaker who provides the public network and the service undertaker which manages the center equipment/special public telephone sets are different from each other, then a massive communication charge must be charged to the service undertaker in order to send out the switching request signal.
The fifth problem resides in that massive maintenance expenditures are required in order to exchange CM contents built in each public telephone set. Although Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 283965/1991 discloses nothing of a method of exchanging CM contents, in a general idea, an exchanging operation of a recording medium in which the CM contents are stored is performed in a suitable period (for example, in a period of one month or a half year) by an operator who performs maintenance. However, although there is no problem where the service area is small, if it is tried to expand the service area, then the exchanging operation must be performed for a large number of public telephone sets, and also for maintenance of them, massive expenditures are required.
In order to solve this problem, a possible countermeasure would seem to be to call a public telephone set from the center equipment and re-write the recording medium, in which CM contents are stored, by remote control. However, even if this method is employed, where the number of public telephone sets involved is very large, a considerable communication charge cannot be avoided (communication charge for remote control).
The sixth problem resides in that a person who uses a public telephone set cannot select CM contents. This results in cases where CM information about a place for marriage ceremonies is provided to a user who is 10 years old or CM information of a sports car is provided to a user whose age is, in an extreme case, 90 to 100. Consequently, the effectiveness of the CM is reduced.
The seventh problem is such as follows. Different from information such as CM information in a television broadcast which a viewer is obliged to observe, many persons desire reception of CM information as an effective information source. To a user of the type just mentioned, the time when the user wants to receive CM information and the time when the user wants to talk do not coincide with each other. For example, a user who listens to CM information on January 1 may want to telephone on January 20 enjoying a discount in charge.
However, since the discount is invalid unless the user talks after listening to CM information from the public telephone set, the discount of the communication charge cannot be provided to the user of the type described above.
The eighth problem resides in that a user cannot select whether the communication charge should be discounted totally or partially. In particular, if it is assumed that the discount quantity is 50 yen, even if a user wants to select the total discount after talking for a time for 50 yen even though the talking is interrupted or another user wants to continue talking after talking for a time for 50 yen even though the continued talking requires a charge, the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 283965/1991 allows a service only for the latter.
Further, the ninth problem resides in that the discount quantity (amount of CM information) for the communication charge cannot be selected by a user. In particular, a discount quantity of 50 yen by reception of CM information for 30 seconds may be sufficient to a user who wants short haul/short time talking. However, another user who wants long haul/long time talking may desire a discount of 150 yen by reception of CM information for 90 seconds.
Or, while a person who is in a hurry may want to receive CM information for a short time and talk enjoying some discount, another person who has sufficient time may want to receive CM information for a long time to enjoy a discount by a large amount of money.
However, the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 283965/1991 merely provides different services for local calls and station-to-station calls. Besides, the apparatus effects such discrimination fixedly, and there is no room for selection by a user.
Furthermore, the tenth problem resides in that, if a call cannot be connected because the other party of the communication is busy or absent after a user listens to CM information, the user has listened to the CM information in vain.
Further, the eleventh problem resides in that, although Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 283965/1991 mentioned above does not disclose a relationship of an amount of money paid from an advertiser to an undertaker and a discount quantity to proceeds of prepaid cards, from the description of an embodiment in the document, it is impossible to discriminate how many times each one of a plurality of commercial messages has been sent out.
Accordingly, it likely occurs that an advertiser pays a fixed amount of money to an undertaker while a CM message has not been sent out at all.
For example, if it is assumed that 10 advertisers (10 CM messages) are involved and a CM contents switching request signal is communicated in a cycle of once a day, then CM contents to be sent out are switched every day. However, a CM message of an advertiser to whom only days are allotted on which the telephone set is used by none or by a comparatively small number of users is sent out less frequently.
In other words, the system is not constructed so that an advertiser pays to an undertaker an amount of money which increases in proportion to the number of times by which a CM message is sent out (for example, the amount of money for one month payable from the advertiser to the undertaker is determined as "fixed amount=50,000 yen"+"merit amount=number of CM sending out times.times.100 yen", and the upper limit to the merit amount is set to 500,000 yen).
Or, the system is not so constructed that a CM message can be sent out by a number of times which corresponds to an amount of money imposed on an advertiser (for example, where the amount of money for sending out of a CM message once is determined to be 100 yen, if an advertiser wants sending out for 1,000 yen in the maximum, that is, by 10 times, then the CM message is sent out only by 10 times, and thereafter, sending out of the CM message is stopped).
Further, the twelfth problem resides in that it is difficult for an undertaker who provides only a communication network to discount a communication charge based on a commercial message. In other words, the system of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 283965/1991 discloses a technique which can be realized only by an undertaker who sets up a public telephone set.
Furthermore, the thirteenth problem resides in that it is difficult for a subscriber telephone set set up in an ordinary home to enjoy a discount of a communication charge by a CM message.
Indeed it may be technically realizable for a subscriber telephone set set up in an ordinary home to enjoy a discount of a communication charge by a CM message if the same structure as that of the special public telephone set is built into the subscriber telephone set or added as an adapter to the subscriber telephone set, the cost required to set up the special subscriber telephone set/adapter must be charged to the undertaker or the ordinary home. However, when the number of subscriber telephone sets present in ordinary homes is considered, it can be estimated readily that massive expenditures are required.
Further, it is very inconvenient that a special prepaid card is used in an ordinary home.
Besides, the maintenance expenditures required to re-write the storage media in which CM contents are stored are very massive where the number of subscriber telephone sets present in ordinary homes is taken into consideration.
In addition, it is impossible to provide a CM message in the form of facsimile data to a facsimile communication (FAX) terminal to discount the communication charge.
Further, the fourteenth problem resides in that the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 283965/1991 is of the type wherein a CM message is provided when a user performs a predetermined operation, and therefore, an undertaker cannot sometimes provide a CM message actively to a user. In other words, it is impossible for an undertaker to call a user and provide a CM message to the user and then discount the communication charge.